I won't embarrass my beautiful older sister by sharing a photo of them, but she wore an identical pair to Sally Jessy's scarlet frames in the 80s, and they're still a source of many good laughs in my family. "What the heck were you thinking?!" we often ask our mother, along with queries about our so-short-we-were-mistaken-for-boys haircuts and Polly Flinders floral dresses. But poor Jamie's glasses take the cake for Worst Indignity Ever Inflicted By A Lomrantz Parent, and now that I know the backstory behind the talk show host's specs, I'm feeling even more sympathetic.

On Wednesday afternoon's show, Oprah invited some of her favorite talk show hosts--including Phil Donahue, Geraldo Rivera, Ricki Lake, and Montel Williams--to dish about their days on-air and share some of their secrets. She asked Sally Jessy about why she chose those ridiculous red glasses, and her answer was about as bizarre as it gets.

"I couldn't see the teleprompter," she told Oprah. "So I saw an ad that said, 'We do a Pap smear and give you red glasses.'" She went to the medical office that was advertising the truly strange deal, and they tried to convince her to get a better pair. "They were going to trade me up [to a better pair]. I said: 'You're not going to trade me up. I don't have that kind of money.' It's all they had for $19.95."

There you have it, ladies...they came at a deep discount with a Pap smear! Pretty crazy, huh? Do you remember watching Sally Jessy and thinking how ridiculous her glasses looked? Did you ever have a pair you wish you could destroy any evidence of? What did they look like? Share!